A consortium of researchers is closer than ever to producing swarms of miniature robots that behave like colonies of ants. Although robots that work together is not a new idea, this project draws on chip manufacturing technology to make millimeter-sized robots (nanites?). These robots may one day be deployed by the thousands to monitor and sense the environment, inspect machinery, or even perform medical procedures inside the human body. However, if you look to see what has been made to date, hyped millimeter-sized robots with said behaviors have not yet been built. Only centimeter-sized robots have been built so far to test their infrared group communication. You can see i-swarm bots video here.

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